Blue BlanketFic
by lampshaded
Summary: 1x2x1 shounen-ai oneshot, written for a friend. After a miserably cold mission, Duo and Heero take refuge in a decrepit safehouse. Heero POV.


Drip. Squeak. Drip. Squeak. Squ—eak. Drip. Squeak.

He gritted his teeth, between the leaking roof and his annoying partner, he was sure to be distracted the rest of the miserable mission.

Drip. Squeak. Drip. Squ—

"Duo." He looked up from his laptop and glared at his partner, who was currently tracing the icy trails of rain down the window with a fingertip.

"Man, I can't help it; this sucks!" Duo glared back for a moment before dropping his gaze, and turned back to the window. "Sorry." 

"Hn." Heero turned his attention back to the laptop screen. Another drop fell from an icicle hanging from the ceiling, adding to the puddle of icy rainwater across the room.

The mission had been completed, but only just. The necessary information had been taken with OZ none the wiser, but as the result of the bad weather both pilots were soaked with the cold rain, both gundams were covered in ice, and both hatches would be frozen shut by morning. Not that either had a mission, but it would prove to be a major setback if they did.

Pushing some wet hair away from his eyes, the solemn boy looked around the room. Their safehouse clearly hadn't been occupied in years and had several leaks in the roof and a window on the eastern wall had a broken pane. The freezing rain had formed icicles in place of the glass, helping to keep the wind out. They had no running water and though the house was equipped with one stone fireplace, they had no coal and no wood other than the very floor of the brick house. The room held a thick but worn rug, a broken table, and a single threadbare couch, adorned with several moth holes. It was surprising that the solar panel on the side of the house was still functioning, as Duo had found out when he plugged a small, portable lamp into one of the house's two electrical outlets. The other had been reserved for the laptop, but hardly any satellite signal was making its way through the heavy winter storm. It seemed that the house had been equipped with a front porch at one time but it had long since collapsed, leaving the pilots to pry open a window and crawl in. 

Heero's eyes flicked back to his partner, who was silently staring out the iced window in the black night. The silence inside the single-room house was proving to be more unnerving than the distracting sounds had been. They both turned as the lamp flickered; Heero realized it had gotten more dim over the time they had been there. He looked down at his laptop and mentally cursed—it was running on battery.

"The power cells must have pretty crappy storage." Duo supplied, turning to face him. The longhaired boy was sitting on the rug near a window and looked as grim as his counterpart.

"Do you think we could find some fuel to make a fire? OZ won't be looking for us until their inspection in approximately forty-eight hours." Heero said, closing his laptop. It would be useless until they were able to connect to the satellites again. He didn't miss Duo's eyes as they flicked to the other side of the room. The shorthaired pilot watched as he got up and went to the old table.

"Isn't that plastic?" He asked, watching as the other boy bent to look under the furniture. 

"Nope." Duo grinned back at him. "It's plastic veneer-covered wood. They made these on earth a while ago," he turned the table on its side and began working one of its wobbly legs off with a tool he produced from one of his many hidden pockets. "Though these were never distributed in space, they were made on Earth out of recycled wood—thick cardboard almost." He snorted, flinging the first leg to the side and working on the next. Heero got up from the couch and examined the piece. 

"We should be able to pry this plastic off." He commented, setting it by the fireplace and going to the window they had entered from.

"Whatcha gonna do?" Duo asked, stopping his job to watch the boy pry open the window.

"I'm going to look at that porch. There might be some wood protected from the elements underneath the fallen roofing." Heero swung a leg through the sill, looking for the best place to land on the ice below.

"Be careful man, we don't want the whole house falling down." Duo gave him a dry grin but his eyes lacked humor.

"Rodger." The pilot swung himself through the window and landed with a grunt. Though the drop was a good six foot, the ice below hadn't broken—it was several inches thick and still coming down in the form of freezing rain. 

Inside the house, Duo had managed to pull off all the table legs, pry the plastic off of them, and was currently attempting to scrape the false veneer off of the table top. He started when a chunk of wood flew through the half-open window and landed with a thunk on the floor below. It wasn't until the second piece followed that he realized he had his gun trained on the inanimate intruders.

"You need a hand, buddy?" He called, slightly amused at the situation. Looking down through the window, he could dimly see the darkened form of his partner holding an armful of identical-looking pieces of painted wood, presumably from the old porch. Taking a few at a time, he hauled the firewood into the house and reached down to give his friend a hand.

"Dammit man, your hands are frozen!" He hissed, hauling the other boy through the window. The shorthaired pilot landed on the floor with a pained grunt.

"I'm inadequately dressed for this weather." He replied through frozen lips, choosing to pull off his soaked jacket and reveal the tank top beneath. Duo looked down and blinked in the dim light, then grabbed the other pilot's jaw and turned his face into the light.

"Shit Yuy, Your lips are blue!" Duo chastised, releasing his face and pulling some of the wood to the fireplace.

"The temperature has dropped since nightfall." Heero shrugged and went to the couch. After moving his laptop to the floor, he sat on its old cushions and tried to take warmth from its fabric. He fought a shiver; at least he was inside now.

"Ha!" The grinning boy practically crowed when a small fire caught onto one of the larger pieces of wood. "Now," he got up and first pulled the rug close to the fireplace, then his stoic comrade. "You are going to sit here and get warm."

Heero was silent as he watched the other pilot switch off the lantern and stop suddenly in front of the couch. 

"Yanno," Duo slid a hand over a cushion, plucking at the fabric with interest. "I think this wasn't the original fabric." He suddenly turned to grin at his friend before pulling at the fabric of the couch.

Wit a loud rip, it tore from the back, pulling several rusted staples with it, and revealed cloth underneath. The foam stuffing was falling out of the original upholstery and it was quite clear why the previous owner had recovered the piece of furniture and made it useable again. With another strong tug and another loud rip, the heavy blue covering came off of the couch entirely. Duo grinned brightly as he pulled a few more of the rusty staples off the sides before coming to sit next to his partner. After pulling his oversuit off, he wrapped the makeshift blanket around them both and pushed another piece of wood into the flames, which were finally getting large enough to produce some heat for the weary pilots.

"Not too shabby for this crappy place, huh?" He gestured to the fire. His stoic friend shrugged, watching the flames and feeling the heat seep into his skin. Every time Duo's arm would brush his it felt like a molten shock. When a warm hand rested on his arm he belatedly realized that the other pilot was talking to him.

"…man, you okay?" Duo was peering at him with a worried expression. Blinking, he tried to shake the fog out of his brain; he was just so tired. Duo's face was somewhat blurred beside him.

"Why don'tcha get some rest?" The other boy's arm brushed against his again. "I'll take first watch."

He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Duo's face. The heat of the fire had tinged his lightly tanned and freckled cheeks pink and the dim light accented his blue eyes. Heero had never before noticed the flecks of purple in them. His slightly chapped lips formed words. Duo always did have a habit of chewing his lower lip on missions. Probably due to the stressful situations, Heero's mind reasoned. His mouth was wider than most, with his upper lip slightly fuller than his lower one. The dark-headed boy could feel the warm breath against his own lips. His mind was suddenly filled with the urge to see how warm Duo's dry lips were.

"'Ro?" The boy's whisper startled him and he realized he'd been leaning very close. His mouth was mere inches from the other pilot's. Duo's eyes were wide, focused on his own mouth.

Heero began to lean away, but a hand caught the front of his shirt and jerked him forward. Warm lips collided with his own startled ones. The contact was foreign and for a moment, he remained as unmoving as a statue. Then one by one, his muscles relaxed and he leaned into the kiss, the reasonable part of his mind silent in the unfamiliar onslaught of feeling.

When they both sat back within the embrace of the makeshift blanket, Heero's lips were buzzing with sensation and the other boy's looked slightly more red than usual. He could still feel the contact, burned into his hazy mind. 

Duo's face was slightly more flushed than it had been a few minutes prior. He was gazing at Heero from under thick, guarded lashes with just the barest hint of blue reflecting the flames before them. The thought that this could be a potentially awkward situation flitted in the back of his mind, before he ignored it completely and leaned forward again. Duo's mouth curved into a wide grin before connecting with his. 

The kiss lasted longer this time and Heero jumped when he felt teeth nip at his lower lip. He wasn't very surprised though, when hands smoothed over his sides and pulled him into an embrace, he welcomed it even. His own hands clung to the other's undershirt as his energy was waning too much for him to do much else. Heero was vaguely aware of being pulled forward into the warmth of Duo's full embrace. When he could no longer ignore the protests of his lungs, he pulled his head away from the mouth below his, but those thin, strong arms did not permit him to sit up. He aggrevatedly swiped at the blanket which had fallen into his vision and gave Duo's smiling face a mild glare.

"I told ya," the uncharacteristically quiet voice said. "Get some rest. I'll take the watch."

Heero merely grunted and set his head down. After some maneuvering and absolutely unnecessary wiggling on Duo's part, the tangled pair was finally comfortable with the short-haired boy's face snug against the other's neck. Long fingers twined slowly through the hair on the back of his head, clenching and relaxing in turns. It was soothing enough to ease his mind into sleep in the warmth of the blanket. Beside him, Duo's mouth remained curved into a warm smile and his hand never ceased moving.

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